Laelia Benoit is a child psychiatrist and researcher at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, INSERM, as well as at the Yale Child Study Center in the United States. Trained in sociology, she is interested in the influence of social dynamics on child mental health. She is the author of the book Infantisme ("Childism"), which explores prejudice and discrimination against children.

What does the long silence surrounding the violence committed at Notre-Dame-de-Bétharram, where more than 200 former students have come forward about abuse suffered between 1950 and the 2000s, reveal in your view?

Beyond the individual responsibility of the adults implicated, which remains subject to judicial evaluation, this tragedy and the silence that surrounded it reveal structural mechanisms that are still very present in our society.

Until the media coverage of acts of unprecedented cruelty, sending their children to boarding school at Notre-Dame-de-Bétharram was a source of pride for many families. They saw it as a guarantee that their children would be "kept in line," forced to obey and subjected to the principles of a "good education." The fact that students were punished, regardless of the reason, did not cause any concern. Their submission was considered necessary for their education. It was known, tolerated and sometimes even sought after. This culture of submission allowed violence to flourish in increasingly extreme forms.

In the testimonies collected by the victims' spokesperson, Alain Esquerre [author of Le Silence de Bétharram, "The Silence of Bétharram"], it is chilling to see that the children did try to raise the alarm. They sought out adults to confide in about what they were experiencing, but they were not heard. Worse still, for some, the blame for the violence was turned back on them, instilling doubt about their own responsibility: Didn't they "deserve" what happened to them?

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